This may not come as a surprise to most people, but the chicken nuggets you buy at fast-food restaurants may contain more than just meat. In fact, researchers from The University of Mississippi Medical Center found that chicken nuggets from two big-time fast-food chains had between 40 and 50 percent meat. What was in the rest of the chicken nugget? According to researchers, the remainder of the chicken nugget contained fat, skin, connective tissue, blood vessels, nerves and bone fragments.

Richard deShazo, a professor of medicine, pediatrics and immunology at UMMC, points out that all of those ingredients are edible, but that he was surprised to discover what’s really in fast-food chicken nuggets.

“I was floored,” deShazo said. “I had read what other reports have said is in them and I didn’t believe it. I was astonished actually seeing it under the microscope.”

deShazo added that white chicken meat is a great source of lean protein, but that fast-food chicken nuggets aren’t always the healthiest choice.

“What has happened is that some companies have chosen to use an artificial mixture of chicken parts rather than low-fat chicken white meat, batter it up and fry it, and still call it chicken. It is really a chicken by-product high in calories, salt, sugar and fat that is a very unhealthy choice. Even worse, it tastes great and kids love it and it is marketed to them,” deShazo said.

deShazo and his colleague didn’t identify the offending fast-food chains by name.

“This is about people having the knowledge and resources to make healthy choices,” deShazo said.

Eating a limited quantity of chicken nuggets isn’t necessarily an issue, but overconsumption of a particular food is unhealthy.

“We’re literally eating ourselves to death with obesity,” deShazo noted. “We have to learn to eat a balanced diet where it’s not all carbohydrates and fat.”

According to deShazo, the study wasn’t designed to be a detailed examination of chicken nuggets from all the big-time fast-food chains. And, the results from lab analysis of two chicken nuggets don’t imply that all chicken nuggets have the same ingredients.

“My concern is that these constitute a large part of people’s diets. Particularly children,” deShazo said. “When you fry any food, you’ve got a problem because you add a lot of calories to it. And we eat high-fat foods like chicken nuggets rather than fresh fruits and vegetables.”

deShazo and Steven Bigler, a pathologist at Baptist Health Systems who worked with him on the study, said that major fast-food chains aren’t necessarily trying to trick their customers. The real problem is that people don’t obtain the basic nutritional information they need to make healthy eating decisions for themselves and their children.

The results are published in the American Journal of Medicine.